THANKS FOR THE VOCATION
“Vocation….”, a word in little use in our vocabulary…. we speak more of self realization, namely, to make oneself…..as one wants according to his whims and fancies…. But speaking of the vocation is to speak about something between two persons: someone calls and someone responds…. And in the search of the person who calls, we should not look outside, but to look within the heart. For this it is necessary to know oneself: Whom am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? These are the questions we have to pose to ourselves and answer sooner or later if we want to be happy. But the issue is, where to begin? There are some guidelines…..there are no recipes. Let us begin to acquire certain abilities:
*To enter within our own mystery and discover all that we have within us, what we live, feel…. Perhaps we discover we are already inhabited……..
*Observation and reflection. Observe yourself: how you speak, how you place yourself before people, circumstances, how you react. Pay more attention to your reactions! Ask yourself constantly, “What is happening within me? Listen to your heart, your sentiments…. and name them (happiness, sadness, discouragement, euphoria), and find out the reasons. Observing how we are is the first step to be “the masters” of our feelings.
*Express what you feel; before you and before somebody who can be your mirror. Listen to others. What they say sincerely and openly and those things they tell you with their gestures, reactions, criticism…. A part which escapes from us is seen by others…..
*Be amazed. You have more possibilities than what you imagine…… Look at yourself with the mirror of Jesus who always frees, raises, impels and encourages us….. Perhaps you may discover yourself as an unfinished project, as a dream of God. Then you will be able to tell him full of confidence, “Lord, what do you want from me? This is what Claret wanted to tell Fr. Lobo, his old collaborator in Cuba and now a Jesuit novice.
